


half of my heart won't do

by serenitysea



Series: paper wings; the skyeward college au [4]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, POV Outsider, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-17
Updated: 2015-05-17
Packaged: 2018-03-31 00:56:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3958390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serenitysea/pseuds/serenitysea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>the one where lincoln observes the firestorm that is grant ward and skye coulson from the outside, looking in. </p><p>part of the college au series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	half of my heart won't do

**Author's Note:**

> written for the lovely anon who requested super angsty lincoln/skye. i couldn't do that exactly, so i tried for the next best thing.

Lincoln spots her from when he’s at the other end of the hallway. 

The girl is new to campus, looks like she could cheerfully murder whoever gets in her way and has the kind of air about her that indicates it wouldn’t be the first time she’d done so, either. 

It’s like there’s this black cloud just following her. 

“Skye! Wait!” 

He follows the voice to see none other than Grant Ward, playboy extraordinaire, trailing after her. 

“C’mon. Be my partner for the English project.” 

“This, coming from the asshole who won’t give me back my book?” Skye glares at him, stomping on his instep. Grant releases the book with a grunt of pain and seems to be somehow grinning through it all. (What the _hell_? Did the guy have a death wish?)

“ _Thank_ you,” Skye snatches the book from the ground and storms off, leaving the rest of the hallway staring in her wake. 

Lincoln shakes his head and continues walking to his next class. Even when they’re being shot down, some guys have all the luck. 

*

( _months pass_.) 

He’s at the club and it seems like everything is going well for once. 

He hasn’t given Skye more than a passing glance in forever, which is why it’s so startling to discover that she’s seated next to him at the bar. 

“Buy you a drink?” Lincoln asks, careful to respect her personal space, given the way she visibly startles at the sound of his voice. 

“I doubt there’s enough vodka in the world to drown this mess, but,” Skye shrugs, nodding. “What the hell.” 

Lincoln signals the bartender and gestures for refills on their beverages. Once they’re alone again, he takes in the forlorn look up on her face. “Rough night?”

The smile pasted on her face is blatantly insincere and almost bitingly sharp. “Let’s… _not_. I don’t want to talk about my problems and neither do you.” When the bartender delivers their drinks, Skye tosses back more than half without so much as a flinch. 

“You’re cute,” She pecks him on the cheek in gratitude. “But trust me when I say you’re better off steering clear of this mess.” 

He loses track of her until much later that evening, when there’s huge commotion.

It turns out to be Skye, dancing on top of the bar with her hands in the air, eyes closed against the heavy bass pounding through the air. He feels oddly compelled to do something – something insane, like _rescuing her_ – until he catches sight of Grant Ward standing at the edge of the bar, calling up to her. 

Skye yells something back to him and starts dancing and singing loudly until she stumbles and then gets on board with whatever Grant has been shouting to her, jumping into his arms. 

Lincoln watches as Grant carries Skye out of the bar and wonders how a playboy like Grant Ward can land a gem like Skye and decides that nothing in the universe is ever fair. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> i actually really enjoyed writing this because seeing the skye/ward relationship from the outside is such a totally different perspective. lincoln has no idea what skye and grant have been through and he doesn’t know what’s made her so guarded – in fact, he’s on the receiving end of toughest side because that’s still her default mechanism for most people who aren’t grant or trip.
> 
> so this was nice because it felt like a good way to subtly explore the differences and the way our two favorites had grown without actually having to come out and say it.
> 
> also if you need the refresher, the first half takes place during part two and the second half takes place during part 11 (the infamous bar scene).


End file.
